DOUBLE FEATURE 08.14.20
Beautiful Manipulation: Gaslight + Gone Girl
To gaslight someone means to manipulate them into thinking they’re insane. It’s a cruel concept, one we’ve seen played out in real life. But some films take gaslighting to the next level and demonstrate it for audiences around the world. For this week’s double feature, we present two films where this form of psychological manipulation ensues.
The first is the aptly titled Gaslight from 1944. It was the second remake of the film in six years and it’s safe to say some people knew what was going to happen. In it, Charles Boyer plays Gregory Anton, a man who has committed crimes. When he falls in love with Paula Alquist — played by the incomparable Ingrid Bergman in an Oscar-winning role — he manipulates her into ignoring his criminal activity. It’s gaslighting in the most real sense of the word. The Greg Cukor film was nominated for seven Oscars and won two. The film also stars an 18-year-old Angela Lansbury in her feature debut and Oscar-nominated role.
Considering how the landscape of media has changed, it’s no surprise that there have been examples of gaslighting with the genders flipped. No film or book has captured the act in such a way as David Fincher’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. The 2014 film follows the presumed murder of Amy Dunne. And who is the suspected killer, you ask? Of course, her socially inept husband, Nick Dunne. The couple, played by Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, play a cat-and-mouse game where Amy comes out the apparent winner. Her power over his is as delectable as it is insane.
